David Senior commented ” Whilst we really wanted to retain Rasus as a series of racing as in previous years across Wales, we were pursuaded that the single date offered to Amman Valley in June and the date of 21st July was the best we were going to get this year and we are now going to turn this into a positive force (Rasus will also screen 11 hours from Tregaron at the end of August). I was desperate to keep the Crock of Gold going and came up with the idea of running it like The Little Brown Jug in the US with free for all heats and final on 21st July. Fortunately Geraint and S4C agreed and between us we have found the £5000 prize money that was paid last year.  Initial comments have all been positive and it is starting to create a real buzz. Once we get the go ahead for the date change we will start to work on building up the card so that it will be a memorable event. I want to thank S4C for their continued support of harness racing and Geraint for all his hard work.”

Please keep upto date by visiting the website.

After having invested over £1 million in the sport at Tir Prince it is not pleasing to see the revenues from harness racing decline to such an extent (gate receipts, tv funding, fewer horses in training etc) that the number of meetings has declined sharply. We are not the only hard track to have had to cut back and in fact he recently announced the closing down of the Sire Stakes (since reprieved) for similar reasons. We are proud however of the quality of the racing we put on and the times, integrity and fairness of the racing we put on is as good now if not better than ever before.

Where we differ of course is that Adam Williams and myself spend our own money but the BHRC spend other peoples and only the licence holders can pass comment as to whether the £80000 overspend was well spent.

He points out that we no longer have a vote at the BHRC this is true,but again this says more about the BHRC than us. If this national association no longer wants the best track in the country to have a vote than maybe we are better off out of it. We have taken legal advice about the Chairman’s actions taking our vote away and it was clear and unequivical “It was unconstitutional” but it is evident that we are not welcome at the moment and we will not be pursuing membership at this time.

We will attempt again on our 21st anniversary to put on quality meetings at Tir Prince however many this maybe.

The BHRC no longer have a separate account for the Prakas fund but include this cash figure as part of the bank account, the £50,000 owed to the Prakas fund is shown as a creditor on the balance sheet. As the BHRC has no other evident means of settling the debt to the Prakas fund then the first £50,000 of any bank balance needs to be discounted. In any event the BHRC accounts at 31st March 2011 show £103,280 in the bank which means that the BHRC spent £82,386 more than it earned in the 5 year period to 31st March 2011 an average of just under £17,000 per year, ( In the 12 month period to 31st March 2011 the BHRC spent £20,156 more than it earned). It should also be noted that there is only £53,280 in the bank if we discount the amount owed to the Prakas Fund.

We do not know what the bank balance is at the moment nor has the BHRC published a budget for the period to 31st March 2012. However if the BHRC continues to spend more money that it earns at the same rate as it has done over the last 5 years then the £53,280 will be spent before the summer of 2014.

It is to be noted that traditionally the BHRC had been successful in balancing its budget and regularly made a small profit, that in the main the £135,00 that was in the bank in 2006 was because the fees paid by owners, trainers and promoters to the BHRC was in excess of the costs incurred by the BHRC. In the period leading up to 2006 the BHRC produced detailed management accounts and budgets regularly throughout the year and produced the annual accounts in enough time to be sent out with the notice of the Annual General Meeting in accordance with the constitution of the BHRC, this has not happened for some years. It could be argued that because the conditions of calling the AGM were not met then the AGM was not valid and any votes taken at such meeting were null and void.

If a financial disaster is to be avoided then the Directors of the BHRC, ie Members of the Council need to ensure that sound financial management is re-introduced at the BHRC. It is a fact of life that no organisation can continue to spend more that it earns year after year without going bust.

Produced by David Senior FCMA using extracts taken from the official annual accounts issued by the BHRC on 31/03/2006 and 31/03/2011

David Senior asked that the BHRC got a mandate from its members to invest in the promotion and marketing of the sport  to try and get some new blood and young people into the sport and this received widespread support from the floor.

There was also disquiet at the legal cost (purported to be £8,000 according to Gordon Garnett) incurred by the BHRC in the Dave Taff case. Jeff Mound junior said it was madness to incur such costs when the bank balance was only £30,000 he said no businessman would have spent such a high propotion of its cash balances to “prove a point”.

In the other BHRC election Barry Delaney was given the floor and stated that although nobody was opposing him as Vice Chairman that he would not stand unless he was elected as a Steward a position that Bob Lee was standing for. There was a clear vote to re-elect Barry as a Steward.

At the meeting Gordon Garnett was asked to confirm that Tir Prince was to lose its vote at the BHRC meetings he confirmed that because Tir Prince did not hold 8 meetings or more that this was the case. The meeting felt that this needing correcting and the NWHOA would request that Tir Prince be given a vote similar to the arrangement for Tregaron.

The Chairman Jim McInally thanked everyone for attending and added that the next meeting would be in the New Year

27th July televised on S4C including Crock of Gold heat and the NWSA 3 year old championships

10th August including the world famous Roosevelt trotting championship

17th August televised on S4C including Crock of Gold heat and Prakas trot and the NWSA 4 year old Derby

31st August The World famous Crock of Gold Finals night including the Billy Williams Free for All.

Entry for adults £5 (31st August £10) under 16’s with an adult Free, car parking free.

Still a small number of sponsorship opportunities ring Eric on 07919818925.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 27th July.

3 Year Old Championship over 1 Mile

Plans for a 3 year old stakes race to be held on Wednesday 27th July have been announced. It is hoped that there will be sufficient entries to run separate finals for colts and fillies otherwise if there is a single race fillies will be preferred. The race is scheduled for live TV coverage, entry fee will be £100 payable by 30th April with a further payment of £50 payable on the race night, so there wont be any worrying about missing sustaining payment dates. It is hoped that there will be a £2000 prize fund.

4 Year Old Derby over 1 1/2 Mile

Plans for a brand new Derby Championship for 4 year olds to be held on Wednesday 17th August have been announced. It is hoped that there will be sufficient entries to run separate finals for colts and fillies otherwise if there is a single race fillies will be preferred. The race is scheduled for live TV coverage, entry fee will be £100 payable by 30th April with a further payment of £50 payable on the race night, so there wont be any worrying about missing sustaining payment dates. It is hoped that there will be a £2000 prize fund. Dont forget this year there is a 50% reduction in monies won for handicap purposes for advertised 4 year old racing.

Entry Forms for both races will be in the next edition of the BHRC calendar.

Eric Witherspoon and Jim McInally are still looking for sponsors for races for this year they can be contacted on 07919818925.

Tuesday 31st May

Wednesday 27th July Crock of Gold heat

Wednesday 3rd August

Wednesday 10th August

Wednesday 17th August Crock of Gold heat

Wednesday 31st August Crock of Gold Final

The provisional date is Wednesday 24th August.

NWSA have committed to raise sponsorship to cover the prize money for all races (except Crock of Gold and Billy Williams) at the moment they have pledges for at least three meetings but need help and support to cover the other three (or four) meetings. If you can help or know someone who may be interested in sponsorship please contact Eric Witherspoon on 0791 9818925 or Jim McInally on 07764664169 all monies raised goes directly to NWSA. If you want racing to continue at Tir Prince they need all the help that they can get!

Adam, David and the team wish all of you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.